What Does "Engine Initialization" Mean?

by Micah McDunnigan, Demand Media

Engines let programmers focus on using basic functions in new ways.

Comstock/Comstock/Getty Images

Similar software titles do different things with the same basic functions. Video games render characters and events for you to control, content management systems display and organize your posts, and statistical analysis software crunches numbers through well-established functions. Software engines can handle these fundamental mechanics to expedite a product's development cycle. Just as you have to turn over your engine to drive your car, a software engine has to initialize to start itself up and run the software it powers.

Don't Reinvent the Wheel

You don't want to reinvent the wheel in software engineering. The software world moves quickly and you can easily be left behind if you waste time trying to create software for functionality that already exists. Building your software on top of an engine that performs the basic tasks your application needs lets you develop and release your software, which uses those basic tasks in novel ways, in less time.

Engine Mechanics

The fundamental mechanics and functions that an engine would handle vary depending on the type of application the engine supports. For example, video games use engines that handle graphical rendering, collision detection between in-game objects and simulating physics for in-game objects. Websites can also use engines to handle content management functions for blogs as well as for article organization and editing wikis.

Initialization

Software initialization is the process of loading all the resources into place so that the application can run. Applications that use engines are entirely dependent upon that underlying software to work, so an engine needs to load completely before the rest of the application can begin to load the bulk of its own code. When a software screen says that an engine is initializing, it means that it is still in the process of getting all the components of the engine in place before it can initialize and execute the software's original code.

Engine Licensing

Different software engines operate under different licenses. Some are completely open source, which lets companies use them as they please. Others are free to use for personal purposes but require a fee to create a commercial product with the engine. Still others are commercial products that a company must purchase to build a product on top these engines.

About the Author

Micah McDunnigan has been writing on politics and technology since 2007. He has written technology pieces and political op-eds for a variety of student organizations and blogs. McDunnigan earned a Bachelor of Arts in international relations from the University of California, Davis.

Photo Credits

Have Feedback?

Thank you for providing feedback to our Editorial staff on this article. Please fill in the following information so we can alert the Small Business editorial team about a factual or typographical error in this story. All Fields are required.